And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse,

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

– God to Abraham (Genesis 12:3)

The last couple of years the secular community and some in the religious community have woken up to the fact that most of the American Evangelical community is pro Israel. Guess what? They do not like it one bit. There have been a number of articles in the media about the alleged dangers of the Christian support for Israel. A widely noted article appeared in the May 23, 2002 issue of the Wall Street Journal entitled, ” How Israel Became a Favorite Cause of Christian Right.” For some, this is horrifying.

Current Christian Zionism

At the beginning of this article I have quoted Genesis 12:3, which is God’ s promise to bless those who bless Abraham and his descendants (i.e., Israel). Does this promise still stand or has it been changed? If the Bible is to be taken literally and still applies to Israel and not the church, it should not be surprising to anyone that such a view leads one, such as myself, to Christian Zionism. Zionism is simply the desire for the Jewish people to occupy the land of Israel. Christian Zionists are Christians who advocate this belief.

Back in the spring of 1992, Christianity Today did a cover story on Christian Zionism. The article ” For the Love of Zion” (March 9, 1992; pp. 46-50) reflected a generally negative tone toward Christian Zionists, which is normal for Christianity Today. They made the case that evangelical support for Israel is still strong but it has peaked and is declining. Yet, today, over a decade later the consensus appears to be that Christian Zionism is getting stronger, but so are those Christians who oppose it.

In February 2003, the Zionist Organization of America released extensive polling results from the polling firm of John McLaughlin and Associates indicating rising support by Americans of the modern state of Israel as against the Arab Palestinian state. 71% of Americans were opposed to creating a Palestinian state and by almost the same margin Americans oppose any support to the Palestinian Arabs. Much of this current support is surely generated by those who are classified as Christian Zionists.

Christian Anti-Zionists

Probably for the first time ever, an organized effort appears to be on the rise of Christians (many who are Evangelical) who are outspoken Anti-Zionists. Knox Theological Seminary, founded and headed by D. James Kennedy (interestingly Dr. Kennedy did not sign the document) has posted a document on their web site denouncing those who are supportive of the modern state of Israel as engaged in ” a serious misreading of Holy Scripture.” Oh really!

Stephen Sizer is writing a major new book against Christian Zionism. I guess we have gotten so bad that they believe one is necessary. It will be calledChristian Zionism: Fueling the Arab-Israeli Conflict, due out in December 2003 from Intervarsity Press. Colin Chapman has written what amounts to an anti-Zionist book in Whose Promised Land? The Continuing Crisis Over Israel and Palestine, Baker, 2002. He attempts throughout his work to refute the biblical teaching about ethnic Israel’ s right to the land of Israel.

Gary DeMar has for many years exhibited his anti-Zionism in the many incarnations of Last Days Madness (American Vision, 1999). pp. 407-23. In an appendix entitled ” ‘ Anti-Semitism’ and Eschatology,” DeMar quotes from Assembly of God premillennialist, Dwight Wilson’ s Armageddon Now!,(Baker, 1977) saying that premillennialism fostered anti-Semitism during the Holocaust. Both Wilson and DeMar have made a statement that is ridiculous and cannot be supported from the facts of history. DeMar says, ” Wilson maintains that it was the premillennial view of a predicted Jewish persecution prior to the Second Coming that led to a ‘ hands off’ policy when it came to speaking out against virulent ‘ anti-Semitism.’ ” [1]

Wilson and subsequently DeMar’ s interpretation of the premillennial record on this matter is simply wrong. Instead, historian David Rausch is correct when he declared:

This theory of ” Fundamentalist anti-Semitism” is not only biased- it is totally inaccurate. Fundamentalist Protestants are not historically anti-Semitic, nor are they anti-Semitic at the present time. In fact, Fundamentalism is itself a religious movement which grew out of a millennialism which was Zionist. Fundamentalists are ardent supporters of Israel and the Jewish heritage.[2]

Convoluted Calvinism

Calvinist DeMar must be desperate in his attempt to label dispensational premillennialists as anti-Semitic, that he would adopt and advocate Wilson’ s Arminian logic in relationship to the sovereign decrees of God. Wilson’ s interpretation that the premillennial belief in the certainty of the fulfillment of prophetic decrees from the Bible leads to fatalistic inactivity by its adherents is not only factually wrong, but would be rejected by DeMar as theologically wrong if he had applied his Calvinism to all issues involving the sovereignty of God and human responsibility.

DeMar does not believe, nor do I, that because God has decreed who will be saved and who will remain lost that the believer’ s response should be fatalistic inactivity in regards to evangelism or any decreed fact of history. History shows that Calvinists have led the way in evangelistic concern and activity. History also shows that premillennialists have led the way in their support for the Jewish people and Israel, and have led Christian opposition to anti-Semitism, just as they are doing at the present time. If this were not the case then there would not be all the press about our love and support for Israel.

Hands Off

Wilson,[3] and therefore DeMar[4], made a number of mistakes in their characterization of premillennialists in regards to anti-Semitism. Wilson quotes a poem written by a premillennialist entitled ” Hands Off” relating to anti-Semitism. The poem is saying that those who have persecuted the Jews would be better off keeping their hands off of God’ s people because God will judge them for their sin. Wilson characterizes the poem as if the author was advocating a hands-off policy of Christians toward helping the downtrodden Jew. The actual viewpoint of the poem was telling people like Hitler to keep their hands off the Jews, not for Christians to be apathetic towards persecution in Europe.

Hands On

Contrary to the Wilson/DeMar viewpoint, Rausch argues that premillennialists were involved in fighting anti-Semitism and did not sit back and do nothing. Rausch cites example after example of American and European premillennialists warning against anti-Semitism in Europe (especially in Germany and Russia) during the many Prophetic Conferences convened between 1878 and 1918.[5] Rausch notes that American dispensationalist, Arno Gaebelein, a German immigrant, ” castigated Gentile Christendom in his lectures and writings for its attacks on the Jew.” [6] In 1895, Gaebelein, upon returning to the US from a trip to Germany, sadly stated,

It is only too true that Protestant Germany is Jew-hating, and we fear, from what we have seen and heard, that sooner or later there will come another disgraceful outbreak.[7]

The fact of the matter is that there were not too many premillennialists in Hitler’ s Germany since most of Christianity in Germany at that time was of a liberal variety. In my entire life thus far I have never met or heard of a liberal who was premillennial. Much of the Christian resistance to Hitler came from those who also hid Jews and they were often premillennial. Joop Westerville, a leader in the underground was a Plymouth Brethren and has a prominent place in the Israeli memorial to the ” Righteous of the Nations.” Corrie Ten Boom’ s family were premillennial and are synonymous in the minds of American evangelicals with activism on behalf of the Jews in WW II. Rausch has noted, ” Contrary to popular opinion, this prophetic viewpoint (premillennialism) combated anti-Semitism and sought to reinstate the biblical promises that God had made to the Jewish people through Abraham- biblical promises that postmillennial Christendom had determined were null and void.” [8]

Further Wilson Confusion

Wilson says that premillennialists like Gaebelein ” seemed to provide legitimacy for the Nazi attitude” [9] because, on a few points, they were critical of some Jewish activities and because they did not believe that the anti-Semitic document The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a forgery. Wilson portrays premillennialists as if belief that the Protocols were not forged was belief that they were true. Premillennialists like Gaebelein thoroughly disagreed with the anti-Semitic agenda of the Protocols, but Wilson does not bring this out. Premillennial criticism could not in any way be interpreted as anti-Semitic attitudes. Rausch, contra Wilson, has observed: ” It was premillennial eschatology that led the early Fundamentalist to have a high view of Jewish history and Jewish heritage. Even in negative remarks, there is no malevolence toward the Jewish people because the Proto-Fundamentalist believed that all men were unworthy of God’ s grace and that even the Proto-Fundamentalist was a sinner.” [10]

Dispensationalist Love for Zion

I believe that it is safe to say that there has not been a group of Christians who have cared more for the Jewish people and their destiny than dispensationalists in the 2,000-year history of the church. Previous to the rise of dispensationalism, Christians did not seem to be able to acknowledge that God had a future plan of glory for national Israel, without at the same time making the church subordinate to Judaism.

J. N. Darby, the father of modern dispensationalism, developed his theology in the 1820s and 1830s by saying that God’ s plan for history included two peoples, Israel and the church. Darby took the Old Testament literally and at face value so that he recognized Israel’ s future destiny. At the same time, he took the New Testament and the church literally and at face value. Darby did not have to spiritualize either Israel or the church recognizing from the Bible two peoples of God. ” J. N. Darby has testified that it was his coming to understand that ‘ there was still an economy to come, of His ordering; a state of things in no way established as yet’ which compelled him to formulate his distinction between Israel and the church.” [11] Because of the rise of the dispensational viewpoint ” premillennialists were able to stress the evangelization of the Jews while at the same time they supported Jewish nationalistic aspirations.” [12]

In fact, the heightened interest in dispensational evangelization of the Jews has been recently documented in a new study of the history of Jewish evangelism. Yaakov Ariel says,

The rise of the movement to evangelize the Jews in America also coincided with the rise of Zionism, the Jewish national movement that aimed at rebuilding Palestine as a Jewish center. The missionary community, like American dispensationalists in general, took a great deal of interest in the developments among the Jewish people. . . .

Perhaps not surprisingly, missionaries to the Jews were among the major propagators of the dispensationalist premillennialist belief. . . .

They condemned anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews worldwide.[13]

William E. Blackstone

Dispensational theology explains why this form of premillennialism has been the most effective in evangelizing Jews, while at the same time standing with Jews in causes like Zionism. In fact, dispensationalists were the earliest advocates of Zionism, even before it began within the Jewish community. ” Zionism humanly speaking owes its origin not primarily in the Jewish fold, but in the efforts of a Christian, one whom we all respect, and who has been a great friend of Jewish Missions, William E. Blackstone.” [14] Benjamin Netanyahu also recognizes the early rise of Christian Zionism when he declared that it ” antedates the modern Zionist movement by at least half a century.” [15]

Blackstone’ s contribution was acknowledged by the Jewish community in 1918 by Elisha M. Friedman, secretary of the University Zionist Society of New York, who said, ” A well-known Christian layman, William E. Blackstone, antedated Theodor Herzl by five years in his advocacy of the re-establishment of a Jewish state.” [16] Contrary to the image presented by DeMar and Wilson, Blackstone provides another example of premillennial ” hands on” involvement in combating anti-Semitism. ” After traveling to Europe, Egypt, and Palestine in 1888, Blackstone organized in Chicago in 1890 one of the first conferences between Christians and Jews. The Jews of Russia were being persecuted and William Blackstone felt that mere resolutions of sympathy were inadequate.” [17]

Conclusion

In spite of our critics, who unjustly attempt to cast us in a bad light, dispensational premillennialism has always been the best friend the Jewish people have ever had within Christendom. For years many in Israel have recognized this. What is amazing is that in the last few years even the Orthodox community has come to realize that they have friends and supporters within the conservative Christian community. At the same time that we support Zion, dispensational premillennialists have been the leaders in evangelizing the Jewish community during the present church age. I believe that such support of Zion by Christians will continue to be the case from now throughout all eternity. Maranatha!

 

Endnotes
[1] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church, (Power Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), p. 413.

[2] David Rausch, Zionism within Early American Fundamentalism, 1878-1918, (New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1979), p. 2.

[3] Dwight Wilson, Armageddon Now! The Premillenarian Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977), p. 96.

[4] Noted by DeMar, Last Days Madness, p. 413.

[5] Rausch, Zionism, pp. 79-133.

[6] Rausch, Zionism, p. 243.

[7] Rausch, Zionism, p. 241.

[8] David Rausch, The Middle East Maze (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), p. 64

[9] Wilson, Armageddon Now, p. 97.

[10] Rausch, Zionism, p. 212.

[11] Floyd Elmore, ” A Critical Examination of the Doctrine of the Two Peoples of God in John Nelson Darby,” Th.D. Dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990, p. 77.

[12] Timothy Webber, Living In The Shadow Of The Second Coming, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), p. 141.

[13] Yaakov Ariel, Evangelizing the Chosen People: Missions to the Jews in America, 1880- 2000 (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000, pp. 12, 13, 14.

[14] Elias Newman, cited by Rausch in Zionism, p. 269.

[15] Benjamin Netanyahu, A Place Among The Nations: Israel and the World(New York: Bantam, 1993), p 16.

[16] Rausch, Middle East Maze, p. 66.

[17] Rausch, Middle East Maze, p. 66.

” But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” – Daniel 12:4

One of the most popular interpretations of an Old Testament prophetic passage within our prophecy circles is the view that Daniel 12:4 relates to contemporary times. At one time I held and taught this view, until I studied the passage more in-depth. When studied in its context, Daniel 12:4 refers to the fact that during the tribulation period, many Jewish people will study the prophesies of Daniel and come to faith in the Messiah. Let’ s now look at some important issues.

A Sealed BookSome prophecy teachers within our camp have taught that Daniel’ s concealing and sealing of his book relate to the fact that his prophecies would not have been understood by Daniel’ s contemporaries because they spoke of modern times, like the days in which we currently live. The understanding of these prophecies must await those of modern times because only as we approach the fulfillment of these events would we understand what the prophet saw. I disagree with such thinking. The concealment and sealing up of the book until the end of time, relates to something different, it is a command to preserve the book of Daniel.

An excellent explanation of this aspect of Daniel 12:4 is found as follows in Stephen Miller’ s commentary:

In the ancient Near East the custom was to ” seal” an important document by impressing upon it the identifying marks of the parties involved and the recording scribe. A sealed text was not to be tampered with or changed. Then the original document was duplicated and placed (” closed up” ) in a safe place where it could be preserved. An excellent illustration of this process is recorded in the Book of Jeremiah: ” So I [Jeremiah] bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed (h‰t‰m) the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purchase- the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy- and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah [the scribe]” (Jer. 32:9- 12). The sealing of Jeremiah’ s property deed was not done to ” hide” the contents or to keep them ” secret” but to preserve the document. As a matter of fact, Jeremiah performed this transaction in the presence of his cousin ” and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard” (Jer 32:12). There also was an ” unsealed copy” of the deed that presumably was open for inspection.

Gabriel therefore was instructing Daniel to preserve ” the words of the scroll,” not merely this final vision but the whole book for those who will live at ” the time of the end” when the message will be needed.[1]

The same thing is said to Daniel in 8:26 where he is told to seal up that vision as well. Thus, the idea being communicated to Daniel was not one of sealing these words so that they will remain a secret until a future time, instead, they are to be sealed so that the prophecy may be preserved and made available when it is needed in a future time. But, at what time in the future?

The End of TimeThis Hebrew phrase, ” the end of time,” is found five times in the Old Testament. All five uses are found in the book of Daniel (8:17; 11:35, 40; 12:4, 9). In addition, a similar phrase, ” the appointed time of the end,” is also found in Daniel 8:19. Daniel 8:26, speaking of a vision, says, ” For it pertains to many days in the future.” Then Daniel 10:14 tells us, ” Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.” Interestingly, at the end of Daniel’ s book, where there is a concentration of future prophecy, a statement relating to the end of time is used at least eight times. This clearly lets us know when these things will occur in relation to God’ s prophetic plan for history.

This terminology refers to the end of what time? Since the phrase ” the end of time” is unique to the book of Daniel, I believe that it refers to the end of a time sequence that should be found in Daniel’ s book. Daniel 8:17 says, ” Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.” While verse 19 says, ” Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.” When we take 8:17 and 19 together, since they both refer to the same things, we see that they both must have in mind the same time reference. In the context, the first period of indignation would be to the events related to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century b.c. But here the angelic messenger tells Daniel that he is speaking of ” the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.” Throughout the book of Daniel the final indignation will be the tribulation period right before the coming of Messiah. Leon Wood explains the meaning as follows:

I shall cause thee to know (i.e., by way of explanation of vv. 1- 18) what will occur in the latter portion of the indignation (i.e., the Great Tribulation), which will have long before been foreshowed by the oppression of Antiochus Epiphanes (directly predicated by vv. 1- 18, this ” latter portion” constituting the appointed time of the end of the period of the Gentiles.[2]

The other uses of ” the end of time” in Daniel (11:35, 40; 12:4, 9) all refer to the same thing, which is the tribulation period. ” The prophecies thus revealed were to have primary application to those living in ‘ the time of the end,’ ” notes John Walvoord. ” In fact, the entire revelation, even the portions already fulfilled through Daniel 11:35, are designed to help those seeking to trust in the Lord in their affliction at the climax of the age.” [3]

Running To and FroI have heard it taught for many years that the phrase, ” running to and fro” from the King James Version is a prediction of the increase in the speed of travel. It is often said that in the 20th Century civilization has progressed from a horse and buggy to high-speed travel in outer space. ” Isaac Newton predicted on the basis of this verse that the day would come when knowledge would be so increased that people would be able to travel 50 miles an hour! And Voltaire in response cast great ridicule upon Newton and the Bible.” [4] Newton was right on his general prediction about the development of high-speed travel and the great atheist Voltaire was wrong. However, Newton was incorrect to base his future prediction on this passage. What do this expression mean?

When we examine this phrase in the original Hebrew, we learn that this verb appears here in the ” polel” stem ” and means basically ‘ to move quickly, run to and fro.’ ” [5] Until undergoing my current study, I had thought that this Hebrew verb referred to ” the movement of to and fro . . . to that of the eyes through leaves” of a book as one anxiously reads.[6] That meaning is possible for the broader use of the verb (Job 1:7). ” But every other polel use of the verb in the Old Testament refers to movement of one’ s body to and fro, in search of something, especially information (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Jer. 5:1; 49:3; Amos 8:12; Zech. 4:10), which makes that meaning likely here.” [7] Leon Wood has provided the sense of the passage in his following paraphrase of the verse: ” Many shall run to and fro in their desire for knowledge of the last things, and, finding it in Daniel’ s book, because it will have been preserved to this end, their knowledge shall be increased.” [8] I would add that the context has in mind specially Daniel’ s people, the Jews, will be the ones who run to and fro.

Harry Bultema notes that view that takes this passage to refer to an increase in the speed of modes of transportation was developed and propagated primarily by Adventists, who interpret prophecy from the misguided historicist perspective. This wrong approach should not continue to be spread by futurists who are inconsistent with the literal principles of interpretation. G. H. Lang says,

that has given rise to such an irrelevant notion as that the angel pointed to trains, motor-cars, and aeroplanes which would bring about the modern half-insane, restless rushing hither and thither. The real sense, however, is: ” Many shall peruse the book” (Variorum); ” many shall diligently investigate” (Darby): ” many shall read and review the book” (Pierson): ” many shall scrutinize the book from end to end” (Tregelles): ” many shall search it through and through” (Pember), and so ” knowledge [of it] shall be increased.” [9]

Knowledge Will IncreaseI remember watching a weekly prophecy program on television in the late 1990s that spent a year documenting the explosion of modern technology and constantly repeating the refrain that ” knowledge doubles every 17 months.” All of this documentation was based upon their (mis)understanding from this passage in Daniel that such an explosion of knowledge was a fulfillment of the prophecy that ” knowledge will increase.” I don’ t doubt a knowledge explosion that was noted previously, but Daniel 12:4 is not a prediction relating to the growth of scientific knowledge at any period in history. Instead, it speaks, as clearly can be discerned by those who follow the flow of the context, of the Jewish people coming to an understanding of this prophecy during the tribulation period.

The knowledge being spoken of in this passage is not just knowledge in general. If that were the case then the original Hebrew would not have the definite article. Since the definite article is used, the text has in mind specific, not general, knowledge about something. In context, it can refer to nothing other than the understanding of the prophecies that Daniel was commanded to seal up until the end of time.

Even though Daniel was told to seal up and preserve the book for the end of time and specifically for the Jewish people during the tribulation, it does not mean that no one will be able to understand these prophecies until that time. I believe that Daniel’ s prophecy can be understood today by born-again believers who study and search out their meaning. However, in context, this passage is specifically saying that the Jewish people, as a whole, will not come to understand the prophecies of the book of Daniel until the end of time. The reason that they will not understand the prophecy is because of the spiritual blindness that currently exists among all Jews, except the elect remnant during the church age, when it comes to understanding even their own Old Testament. Paul tells us: ” But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:14- 16). That veil will be removed at some point during the tribulation period and Israel will come to understand the proper meaning of their prophetic Scriptures. Beware, Gentiles, lest we think that spiritual blindness is unique to Israel alone. It is not! In fact, it is the condition of all mankind before one comes to know Christ as their Savior (see 1 Cor. 2:6- 16; Eph. 2:1- 3; 1 John 5:19).

I also believe that my understanding of this passage is reinforced by a later statement from the angelic messenger to Daniel. ” Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand” (Dan. 12:9- 10). The unrighteous will never understand these things and they will be purged out or removed from Israel, so that all that are left by the end of the tribulation will be those Jewish people who become believers in Jesus as their Messiah, called here ” those who have insight.” When do they gain insight and understanding? It will come when Daniel 12: 4 is fulfilled. John Walvoord notes: ” it is not too much to say that a twentieth-century interpreter of Daniel may understand these prophecies with greater clarity and be able to relate them to history in a way that was impossible in the sixth century b.c.” [10] Allan MacRae says:

Some writers have taken this sentence as a prediction that in the last days there will be a great increase in travel and also in knowledge. Most interpreters, however, starting as early as St. Jerome, have considered the second clause as closely connected with the first, so that the increase of knowledge would be a result of the fact that many ” go here and there,” hunting through the document, and comparing Scripture with Scripture to find God’ s truth.[11]

One of the interesting things as I studied this passage was that I consulted over 50 commentaries. Only two of those works put forth the increase in travel viewpoint. One was a historicist interpreter from the nineteenth century and the other one did not even interact with text, he just started expounding his view. I bring this point up to make the point that the text does not support such a view even though that view has a certain level of popularity.

ConclusionFor many years when I lived in the Washington, D.C. area I would often attend events where Jews and Christians would come together in support of the modern state of Israel. Whenever I would encounter orthodox Jews I sought to ask them their interpretation of the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24- 27. It was common for these orthodox Jews to answer something like the following: ” My rabbi does not allow us to study that passage.” What? No wonder many Jews currently reject the Messiahship of Jesus, since they are not allowed to study many of the passages that prove that Jesus of Nazareth is their Messiah. However, Daniel 12 teaches us that his prophecies are being preserved and there will come a time during the tribulation period when the Jewish people as a whole will excitedly study these prophecies and come to realize that the Man from Galilee has been their Messiah all along. What a great day that will be, when God’ s first-born, Israel, comes home after years of wandering. Maranatha!

 

Endnotes
[1] Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, Vol. 18 of The New American Commentary(Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994), pp. 320- 21.

[2] Leon Wood, A Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), p. 224.

[3] John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 291.

[4] Donald K. Campbell, Daniel: Decoder of Dreams (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1977), p. 141.

[5] Wood, Daniel, p. 321.

[6] Harry Bultema, Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1988), p. 349.

[7] Wood, Daniel, p. 321.

[8] Wood, Daniel, p. 321.

[9] G. H. Lang, The Histories and Prophecies of Daniel, (Miami Springs, FL: Conley & Schoettle Publishing Co., 1985), p. 181.

[10] Walvoord, Daniel, p. 292.

[11] Allan A. MacRae, The Prophecies of Daniel (Singapore: Christian Life Publishers, 1991), p. 250.